About Yoga

Yoga is a vast tool-box of techniques we can use to bring ourselves into balance.  Yoga began in India thousands of years ago and the practice has evolved, passing mainly verbally from yogi to yogi across generations, centuries and cultural divides.  It is not a religion, nor an exercise regime; it is a life science.  The purpose of yoga is to know ourselves.

Primarily we are working on the mind, relieving stress, learning and growing, finding peace.  Working on the mind directly is quite difficult and something that we in our society are not used to doing.  The mind and body are so closely interrelated that working on the body will also have direct effects on the mind.  So in hatha yoga we work mainly with the body, which is a way of beginning that is accessible to everyone.

The asana (postures) that we practice in yoga have many benefits.  They keep the muscles toned and the joints flexible.  They keep the body moving and stimulate the circulation.  In fact, all the systems of the body can derive benefit from the correct practice of yoga asana.  Yoga teaches us how to relax properly and allow the body to rest.  Yoga can leave us with a feeling of well-being while at the same time providing us with challenges to allow us to become stronger and more resilient.

As we progress along the path of learning that we experience in yoga, and we have developed an awareness of body, we can then start to work more directly on the mind.  'Advanced' yoga is not about improving the body, but is about our attitudes and state of mind.  Yoga asana allow us to increase the strength and flexibility in the body up to a point, but to aim for more and more extreme postures through practice is something of a cul-de-sac, particularly in the face of the natural ageing process. 

Does it serve you to be able to put your foot behind your head?  Do you choose to spend time and energy practising in order to learn to do so?  How do you choose to spend your time and energy?  Often, what we need to learn is not to do more, but to do less.  A gradual process of doing while letting go is empowering and life-enhancing.

That's not to say that yoga isn't hard work.  Yoga practice isn't about finishing up in a heap on the floor on the verge of sleep.  Yoga is about learning to become more alive, to face life as it is in all its messiness, to deal with the challenges of life in a productive rather than destructive way, to be more vital, to appreciate and enjoy your body, and to be able to relax completely at the appropriate times.  It is about discovering who you are and living life to the full.

Yoga is an ongoing project.  There is no arriving.  All yogis are works in progress.  It's not about achieving a certain state of purity or goodness or becoming some kind of superior being.  The state of yoga is beyond those kind of judgements.  It's about getting unstuck and learning to flow with the flow of life, in all its creative beauty.  And just when we're feeling nicely balanced and blissful, up pops another challenge to show us that there's still so much more to learn!

Hari om tat sat.

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